Lustra Institute of Magic
by HogwartsStudent394
Summary: Justin is just an ordinary boy, or at least so he thought. On his 11th birthday he receives a surprise that no one saw coming.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first story, it's about a school on the west coast. I figured having one school for all of the United States was kind of ridiculous, so I invented my own school, with its own history and houses. I hope you enjoy it.**

Being from a ranch in Northern California, the Taylor's were fairly conservative. They believed in hard work, and no nonsense. They had three children, Michael, their oldest, was fifteen, Sarah, the middle child was twelve, and their youngest, Justin, was nine.

Each of them had the same straw colored hair as their mother. It was quite easy to tell they all three were related, except one thing. The entire family had brown eyes, all but Justin. Justin was born with one blue eye and one green eye. Everything about Justin seemed to be slightly off. He wasn't a bad kid, and he had plenty of friends, but strange things would happen around him.

As a baby Justin would end up in places that no child his age could possibly have gotten. His mother would find him in the pool area, even after making sure the gate was locked and secure, or up in the hay loft when the ladder was put away. Not that she would ever talk about it to anyone, out of fear they would think she was crazy, or worse, a bad mother.

It was July and Justin's birthday was fast approaching, he was finally turning ten. He was excited to be double digits, plus his parents promised a big surprise. When his brother had turned ten their parent had bought him a dirt bike, and his sister had received a horse for her tenth birthday.

The day finally rolled around, Justin couldn't sleep the night prior due to excitement, so when his mother came to wake him up he barely moved. That is until he remembered what day it was. He was ten. He jumped out of bed with renewed energy and threw on the first set of clothes he could reach, which happened to be a pair of swim trunks and a short sleeve button-down shirt, and sprinted down stairs.

As he came around the corner to the living room he forgot about the tile floor, and as he was wearing socks, he started to slide. His eyes grew wide as he saw what was in his path. An old cabinet that held all of his great grandmother's china.

Justin shut his eyes and winced as he was about to collide with the antique cabinet, but instead of a crash it felt more like he had just ran into a giant pillow. After he had come to a stop he looked up at the cabinet, and knocked on it. It was just as hard as it always had been.

The knocking had drew the attention of his mother, who poked her head around the corner to investigate the noise.

"What are you doing Justin?" She asked in a stern voice. "How many times do I have to tell you children, leave my grandmother's cabinet alone. Those china pieces are irreplaceable."

"But.." Justin started, but was interrupted by his mother.

"No 'buts', now come in the kitchen. I made your favorite breakfast." She said with a smile. It was Justin's birthday, so he knew she was going easier on him than she normally would have, so he kept his mouth shut and moved to the kitchen to see what his mother had made.

"Cinnamon rolls!" Justin exclaimed as he sat down at the counter bar. "Did you make them from scratch too?" He asked.

"Sure did, the frosting too." His mother reported.

The rest of the day was a blast, all of his friends came over for a pool party, and there was soda. His mother rarely let him drink soda, because all the sugar in them, but today was special, so he was allowed all the soda he wanted.

As the party started winding down, his parents brought out the birthday cake, as well as all the presents. Being full from all the food he had eaten throughout the day, Justin hurriedly blew out the candles and moved on to the presents.

Most of them were toys, but as he got to the last one he felt a sort of tingling on his fingers and stomach. He read the card, it was from the neighbor, Steve. The card read:

Hey Justin,

I know this might seem like a strange present now, but I assure you it will come in handy.

Sincerely, your neighbor, Steve


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Chapter 2 is up. The first few chapters are going to go up quick since I prepped for them before coming to post. If you guys like the story, or have suggestions please leave a review or favorite the story! I'm trying to hurry up and get Justin to the school to start his exciting journey, so sorry if it seems to jump around a lot.**

Justin didn't think much of the card as he opened the last present. It was a large book, a large ancient book at that. The cover was worn, and the pages smelled dusty. On the cover there was a wolf, deer, bear and fox. In the center was an eagle with its wings out stretched.

The title of the book was "History of Lustra and Western Magic".

Justin looked around hoping to spot his neighbor, to ask him some questions, but he was no where to be seen. He must have left early. Justin thought.

He shrugged and placed the book down next to his other presents, and grabbed the new super soaker one of his friends had bought him and started a war.

A few days later, Justin was sitting in his room and saw the mysterious book his neighbor had gifted him. Opening it he saw the table of contents, he flipped to the first chapter titled "The Founders". It read:

Founded 1845 in the north west area of what would later be called Oregon. On the outskirts of a settlement called Portland, 4 friends, who traveled to the west coast hoping to start a new life outside of the crowded cities of the East Coast, and the intolerant towns of the South, founded Lustra Institute of Magic.

First was Ludela Lycan, she was the leader of the group, as well as the mastermind behind the move. She was the second youngest, but it did not prevent her from taking charge of any situation. She had shaggy white hair and piercing gray eyes, that seemed to cut right through any facade. Her house was that of the Wolf.

Second was the youngest of the group, the younger brother to Ludela, Vulpes Lycan. By far the most energetic, he loved prancing the other 3. Although he was childish, he was the most cunning of them all, able to convince anyone to do as he wished. He had flaming red, wild hair, and was very small for his age. His was the House of the Fox.

Ursan Ursus was the largest of the group by far. He was the son of two no-maj slaves, who had him smuggled north when he was a child. He always stood up for those who were to small or weak to due so themselves. Although he could have a hot temper, his intentions were always honorable. He wanted to be sure no one felt the tyranny of slavery ever again. His house was the House of the Bear.

Lastly there was Placia Peryton, she was the kindest, and gentlest of them all. She was the first to adapt to any sort of change in a plan, even if it meant doing a 180 and going backwards. She was an older, Native American woman, in her 60's about. She had long silky black hair, that was just starting to gray. She acted as a surrogate mother to the group. The Deer is what her house adopted.

Finding the whole thing enthralling Justin turned the page to read more, but his mother had just called him down for dinner.

"Okay mom, I'll be right down." He shouted as he folded the page over and hopped off his bed.

School was just getting out for summer break and Justin was doing some last minute number exchanges with his friends. He wanted to stay in contact with them over the summer.

"Now don't forget, my birthday is July twelfth, so make sure you don't go out of town that week." Justin shouted out of the car window to his two best friends David and Tyler.

"No worried man, we wouldn't miss it for the world!" They shouted back.

Justin sat bad into his seat. His mother smiled over at him. "So, are you ready to pick up your brother and sister and head to the water park now?" She asked, as if not knowing the answer.

Justin started bouncing, he had forgotten they were going to the water park today. "Oh yeah! I can't wait!" He exclaimed excitedly.

After picking up Sarah and Michael, or Mike as he liked to be called now, they stopped by the house to change real quick and headed to the water park.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry that this one is a tad short (they have all been short really) but I'very been doing this whole project on my phone using my note pad. I just found out I can use Microsoft Word on my phone, so I'm working on Chapter 4. I'm going to try and make it at least 1,500 words, maybe more!**

 **I'm not quite sure where I'm going with the story once Justin gets to Lustra, so if anyone has ideas of what they would like to see, be sure to write a review with your suggestion. If I like it I'll add it in and even throw you a shout out. ;)**

Justin was having a blast at the park. He had talked Mike into going on the double tube with him and they were making their way to the top of the slide when a fairly large kid, probably about seventeen, started pushing his way past people. As he pushed past Mike and Justin he knocked the two down painfully.

The kid was larger than both Mike and Justin, so their was no way they were going to confront him, so they just glared at him as he sat down on his tube to get ready to slide down. As he sat down on the tube, it burst, causing him to slam hard on the slide and yelp in pain.

Mike and Justin looked at each other and started busting up laughing. It was such a great show of karma, the best they had ever seen. Little did they know though, there was more than just karma at work that day.

The rest of summer passed without any incident, and Justin's birthday was right around the corner again. His parents had decided to have his party early since his actual birthday was on a Monday. The party was fairly uneventful, he had friends over and had a cake and presents.

It was two days later when Justin's whole life changed.

It was 6 A.M. when he heard the knocking. At first he thought it was a dream, but as it persisted he started to wake up. The noise was coming from his window.

When he pulled back the curtains he jumped back at what he saw. It was a great big gray owl. But what was stranger yet was what it was holding in its beak. It appeared to be a letter. Justin opened his window and the owl fluttered in, dropped the letter in his hand, and flew over to the footboard of Justin's bed.

The letter was addressed to Justin, and very specifically so:

 _Justin Taylor_

 _1281 Oak St_

 _1st room up the stairs on the left_

 _Cottonwood, CA_

Justin was very curious as he opened the letter. When he pulled the letter out he let out a yelp when it started talking to him.

"Dear Mr. Justin Taylor, you are cordially invited to attend Lustra Institute of Magic this year. Should you chose to accept this invitation a list of your school supplies will be delivered, in person, by one of the school staff. Please send your response via owl by July 31st." And with its last sentence it dropped to the floor, silent.

"MOOOOMM!" Justin shouted, still staring at the letter he had just received. There was no answer so he grabbed the letter and ran to his parents room. Pounding on his mother's door he shouted for her again.

Opening the door with a wild look in her eye and her hair a mess, Justin's mother looked at her youngest child. "WHY are you making such a ruckus so early in the morning child!"

Justin swallowed and didn't say a word, he just handed the letter over to his mother. She read it carefully. When she had finished she blinked at her son. "Is this some kind of joke? Why are you waking me up this early for a prank, you know I don't like when you mess with me like that." She said, handing the letter back.

"But it's not a joke mom! There's an owl in my room!" Justin tried to explain. "Come look, I'm serious!"

His mother sighed, but decided to indulge him. Walking down the hall she was skeptical, but he sounded so adamant that she couldn't say "no".

When they arrived at his room she let out a little squeak. There was, in fact, an owl sitting in his room. Before either of them could say anything, there was a knock at the door.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys, just finished another chapter of Justin's adventure. I made good on my promise for 1500 words. We're at 2100 in fact! I hope the cliffhanger at the end is enough to intrigue more of you to follow the story. As usual, leave a review, and like always, I hope you enjoy this installment.**

Curiously Mrs. Taylor walked down the stairs to answer the door. Standing in the doorway was a short balding man, with a dark bushy mustache. But the most out of place part was that he was wearing a gown of sorts, or rather robes might be a better description.

"Ah yes, Mrs. Taylor, very nice to make your acquaintance." The strange man said as he stepped in and moved to the living room. Upon seeing the look on their faces he seem distraught. "Oh dear, I must have arrived to soon, you haven't received your letter yet, have you?"

Justin help up the letter that had arrived earlier that morning. "You mean this one?"

"Oh good, I was afraid I had arrived to early. That is a relief. Normally we wait until we receive a letter in return to come by, but people rarely give up the opportunity to come to our school." He said in a cheerful voice, "Now, I have here a list of school supplies that will be required for a first year student. You can get all these items at Vertic Alley. It's located down in Los Angeles, but don't worry, I'll teach you how to use the floo network, of course we will have to connect your fireplace..." The strange man kept rambling on for quite a while, until Justin interrupted him.

"Excuse me, sir, but who are you? And what's the floo network?" Justin asked, very confused. His mother was just standing there, mouth agape, unsure of what to say.

"Right, right, I have failed to introduce myself. My name is Mr. Wobblepot, I am an administrator at Lustra Institute of Magic. One of my jobs includes introducing No-Maj families to the wizarding world. No-Maj being people who can't use magic."

Justin stared, magic, so the letter was true, he was invited to go to a school for magic. He was overly excited. Wait until his friends heard about this!

"Oh man! I can't wait 'til David and Tyler find out!" Justin exclaimed. "they're gunna be so jealous!"

"Now, now boy." Mr. Wobblepot said, in a grave voice that seemed to command every inch of the room. "Us magic folk can't go around telling everyone we meet about our world. It would put our kind in danger."

The man said it in such a way that told Justin not to question it. He nodded wide eyed, he could tell Mr. Wobblepot was not a man you would want to upset.

"Right then, well first things first, I should connect your house to the floo network. We won't be getting far without it, you see." Without waiting for conformation turned to the fireplace and pulled out a stick, which must have been a wand. He started waving it around elegantly and muttering incoherent words.

Nothing seemed to have happened when he finally turned back around. "Okay, I've sent a letter to the Magical Congress already, so everything should be set. The only thing left to do is test it out."

With that Mr. Wobblepot pulled, what appeared to be, sand from his pocket. "This here is called floo powder, we wizards use it to travel from place to place quickly." Justin examined the 'floo powder' in the man's hand. "All you do is state where you wish to travel while throwing the powder down, and poof, you're there."

"Wow," Justin mused. "How does it work, sir?"

Mr. Wobblepot smirked, and waved his free hand, much like a magician would to a crowd. "Magic!" he said with a chuckle.

Justin's face flushed pink. Of course it was magic, what a dumb question to ask. He thought to himself, embarrassed.

"Oh don't worry, son, just about every no-maj I run into asks me the same question. You aren't the first," Mr. Wobblepot said with a huge smile. "And I guarantee, you won't be the last." Justin felt slightly better, but was still rosy cheeked.

"Now, back to the business at hand. I am going to test the connection, and make sure the was completed correctly. We don't need toy ending up in some dragons lair, now do we!" the man said, winking at Justin. Mrs. Taylor found this statement less than amusing. Her eyes widened as she instinctively wrapped a protective arm around her son. "Oh I'm only joking, I've set it up to where you can only travel to the alley and back. It's fail proof. Then again there was that one time…" Mr. Wobblepot trailed off. "Kidding, kidding!" he said quickly, catching a venomous eye from Mrs. Taylor.

Without another word Mr. Wobblepot stepped into the fireplace and said "Vertic Alley!" and threw down the floo powder. With a loud roar, green flames shot up and engulfed the man. Mrs. Taylor screamed, staring into the fire.

A moment later Mr. Wobblepot was gone, no ashes, nothing.

Justin's mouth was agape as he turned to his mother. "Wow," he said. "I can't believe magic is real! You'll let me go, right, Mom?" He looked up at her, as if willing her to let him go.

Mrs. Taylor sighed. "I don't think that Mr. Wobblepot is going to take no for an answer. Look at what he did to our fireplace," she said feigning concern, and walking over to the stone structure.

"Oh c'mon Mom, there's nothing wrong with the fireplace. Besides, if I'm really a wizard, wouldn't you want me to learn to control my powers. Imagine what could go wrong if I don't have training," Justin argued, hoping it would be convincing enough.

Justin's mother gave him a skeptical look, but she knew he was right. She remembered the times when something inexplicable had happened. "Fine." She said shortly, "but go wake your brother and sister up, I want to talk to them before Mr. Wobblepot come back." As she finished her sentence she turned to the kitchen and started making breakfast.

Justin sprinted up stairs and burst into Mike's room. "Mike, wake up, I have awesome news," Justin yelled, as he jumped onto his brothers bed.

Mike shot up at the sound of his brothers voice. He glanced over to the clock, it was seven thirty, he groaned and let his head fall back onto his pillow.

"Mike, wake up, I'm going to Lustra, it's a magic school. I'm going to be a wizard!" Justin persisted.

"Go away, Justin," Mike growled. "It's to early for your antics."

"It's not antics, Mom sent me up to wake you and Sarah up. It's for real, I promise!" With that, Justin remembered he had to wake Sarah up too.

As he got off the bed and ran out the door he charged straight into his sister, Sarah, wearing her blue pajamas.

"Oh, sorry, are you okay," Justin asked, rubbing his head. When she nodded he continued. "Good, I was just coming to wake you up, Mom wants to talk to both of you."

Sarah eyed her younger brother suspiciously. "About what, and what we're you going on about wizards, and magic?"

"Mom'll tell you, she's downstairs making breakfast. That's what she wants to talk to you guys about." Justin could tell they thought it was another one of his jokes, just like his mom had, but they were in for a surprise when their mom backed his story. He ran back downstairs to wait for the curious man to return.

When he got back downstairs, he heard the fireplace roar to life with the green flames. As he turned the corner he saw Mr. Wobblepot stepping out of the fireplace, brushing soot off his jacket. He looked up to see Justin staring at him with a huge grin.

"Hello again, Mr. Taylor. I'm terribly sorry for the delay, I was speaking with the store owners about your arrival," Mr. Wobblepot stated in his usual cheery voice.

"It's fine sir, really. My Mom is making breakfast right now, you'll sit with us right? My brother and sister don't believe me-" Justin's voice dropped, remembering what the man had told him earlier. "I'm sorry, I forgot I wasn't supposed to tell anyone," he squeaked, looking down at his shoes.

"Don't worry, my boy, family is okay to tell. They're bound to find out one way or the other, now aren't they."

Justin looked up, smiling again, relieved, and nodded.

"Now then, what's this you were saying about breakfast. I must say, I am famished, I hadn't any time this morning to eat," Mr. Wobblepot said with a toothy grin.

"Oh yea, c'mon, the dinning room's this way. My brother and sister are coming down now. I just went and woke them up," Justin said with a smug grin on his face. Just as he said it Mike came walking down the hall, with Sarah on his heels.

"Yeah, and you weren't to nice about it either," he said. It took him a few seconds to realize who Justin was talking to, and upon see Mr. Wobblepot he grew quiet. Sarah, who had yet to say anything shrunk behind her older brother.

"Don't worry guys, this is Mr. Wobblepot, he's the one who's gunna take me to the magic school," Justin stated, giving his siblings a triumphant smile.

Mike sighed, and Sarah gave a confused look. "I'm sorry about my brother, sir. He has a very active imagination, I hope he's not annoying you," Mike said, giving the man an apologetic look.

"Oh on the contrary, he's absolutely right," then turning to Justin, "although its not just any magic school, it's Lustra Institute of Magic."

Mike was about to say something when they heard their mothers voice. "Okay, soups up! Bacon, eggs, and French Toast." With that, all three kids forgot about the talk of magic school, and ran to the dinning room.

As they all sat, Mrs. Taylor began scooping scrambled eggs onto everyone's plate, then turned to Mr. Wobblepot and said, "I hope I didn't over step, but I made enough for you to eat as well."

"Oh no, of course not. I just finished telling young Justin here that I hadn't had a chance to eat this morning." Said the man, pleasantly.

As the family ate, they talked about mundane subject's, but eventually, after everyone had their fill, the began speaking of the magic school.

Mike was the first to ask, being that he was a firm believer in science, and seeing before believing.

"So how do we know you're telling the truth, and not just playing some sort of joke on Justin?" The look he gave Mr. Wobblepot was one of pure skepticism.

"Well, I can show you," Mr. Wobblepot said, matter-of-factly. Pulling out his wand, he pointed it at the plate the French toast had been stacked on, and swished it.

As if a ghost had grabbed it, the plate began to float up. It seemed to follow where ever the wand was pointed. Then in his cheery voice he said, "would anyone like seconds on French toast?" As the plate hovered in front of each person's face.

Everyone but Justin seemed to be shocked. After Mike recovered, he looked over at Mr. Wobblepot.

"Okay, so you're not just yanking our legs," he said in a mystified voice.

"Of course not, and speaking of magic. We should really be off to buy you school supplies, Mr. Taylor," said Mr. Wobblepot, glancing at his watch.

"Oh yeah," Justin said, looking nervous all of a sudden.

"What is it, my boy, aren't you excited?"

"Well, yeah, it's just," Justin started. "Do those green flames hurt when you go through the fireplace?"

"No, no, no. Don't worry, the whole process is one hundred percent safe," Mr. Wobblepot said, reassuring the young boy.

Standing up, Mr. Wobblepot thanked Mrs. Taylor for the breakfast and said. "Now then, we really must be going, we're already running behind. It's going to be a long day, and if we don't hurry, some of the shops we have to stop by will close."

Nodding Justin jumped up, along with the rest of the family. They all walked into the living room, where the fireplace was.

"Okay young Mr. Taylor, hop up into the fireplace," Mr. Wobblepot said, gesturing to the stone structure. After Justin climbed in, the man followed. "Now, if you would be so kind as to join us ma'am, it will be a tight fit, but I don't want either of you to get lost on the way."

Mrs. Taylor climbed into the fireplace hesitantly. She looked at her other two children, who were giggling at the site of three people trying to squeeze into a fireplace, and her face flushed pink.

Before she could change her mind, Mr. Wobblepot pulled out the floo powder and threw it down.

"Vertic Alley!" he said. And with a bright green flash, they were on their way.

Mike and Sarah gaped at the fireplace opening. Their youngest brother and mother were gone. Then Mike remembered what Justin had said about the "green flames" and felt a little more relieved. They hadn't been incinerated, but where did they go, Mike wondered.


End file.
